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BOOKMARK

India needs to adopt nature-friendly

sanitation technologies
Pankaj Narayan Pandit
Wednesday 15 June 2016
Making design changes in toilets that conserve water and do not create sewage is the
key to ecological sanitation

India needs to use nature-friendly technology by re-engineering ancient wisdom

Credit: SuSanA Secretariat / Flicker
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Swachh Bharat Mission well begun, but…

Making India ODF (Open Defecation-free) is a commendable initiative of NDA

government as more than half of India’s population lack access to toilet. As per census
2011, 53.1 per cent of India’s population had no access to toilet and 69.3 per cent of
rural households and 18.4 per cent of urban households do not have access to latrine.

The number of households, without access to latrine, has actually increased by 7 per
cent. As per census 2011, out of 130,994 households without access to toilet, 89 per
cent are from rural areas.
 Reference: Census 2011

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ODF initiative well begun but half-done without strategies for effluent treatment

The municipal local bodies so far have not given adequate thought to proper treatment
and disposal of sewage. Choosing appropriate design of toilet, propagating technologies
relevant in tropical climate for treatment of sewage, creating infrastructure and
capacities for the same in local municipal bodies are of paramount importance. India’s
architects and town planners must rise to the challenge. As shown in chart 3, only 19
per cent of India’s excreta are treated to standard.
 Source: CSE, WSB, World Bank

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Pit toilets used in rural India have zero discharge system

As per census 2011, 9.4 per cent of households use Pit type of toilets. The twin-pit
design for toilet in India was pioneered by Bindeswari Pathak, a Gandhian and the
founder of Sulabh Foundation. Sulabh’s public toilets are very cheap to assemble by
local masons. The toilet uses local materials available. Twin-pit toilets are very easy to
maintain and need minimum water. The best part is that Sulabh’s twin-pit toilets,
installed on ground surface, have zero effluent discharge system. These toilets have
high slope allowing excreta to fall into pit by gravity. It consists of a pan with a steep
slope of 25°-28° and a specially designed trap with 20-mm water seal requiring only 1 to
1.5 litres of water for flushing, thus helping conserve water. Scavengers are not needed
to clean the pits.

There are two pits of varying sizes and capacities depending on the number of users.
The capacity of each pit is such that it can be used for 3 years. Both pits are used
alternately. When one pit is full, the incoming excreta are diverted into the second pit. In
about two years, the sludge gets digested and is almost dry and pathogen-free, thus
safe for handling as manure. Digested sludge is odourless and is a good manure and
soil-conditioner. The pit design allows action of aerobic microbes, turning excreta into
compost within few months. The water used for washing, dries off soon, without
contamination of groundwater by pathogens as minimum distance of few metres is
maintained between sources of drinking water and pit location.

Water closet toilets: real culprits for increasing sewage

Water closet flush toilet has become the most popular toilet, currently used by 36.4 per
cent of India’s households. As compared to 2001, when only 18 per cent of total
191,963,935 households in India were using water closets, in 2011, 36.4 per cent of
246,692,667 households are using water closet toilets. Thus, in 10 years, there was a
160% increase in the number of households using water closets. Ref Census 2011
data on latrines

Most of these toilets are connected to septic tanks for storing sewage, as there is no
underground sewer connection to sewage treatment plant (STP) in most Indian cities.
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Stricter implementation for Septic tank standards needed

As per Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), septic tanks of over 2000-litre capacity must
have two chambers, separated by a partition. After primary treatment, leading to
sedimentation of solids, soak pit serves as chamber for secondary treatment. The
standards for designing of septic tanks are not strictly implemented by most town
planners and architects. As a result, in India, most of the septic tanks are built as simply
single chamber tanks with cesspools having overflow pipe. Due to overflow of water,
drinking water gets contaminated with sewage water. Such septic tanks need to be
periodically emptied by municipality’s contractors. According to the Centre for Science
and Environment (CSE), every four out of 10 houses in Indian cities are connected to
septic tanks, majority of which are designed and constructed in a haphazard way. Most
of the private contractors simply empty sewage in any open drain or field. Very few
municipal bodies have guidelines for disposing sewage collected from septic tanks. As
per CSE, only 19 per cent of urban India’s sewage is treated to standard specifications.

As India urbanises, the number of water closets will further increase, raising twin
issues

1. Increasing scarcity of water in water-stressed India

2. Contamination of surface water due to untreated sewage

Unless we popularise economical technologies to treat effluent water for reuse, India is
sure to be under increased water stress.

Why are STPs not an appropriate technology for India?

In developed countries, sewage is treated in a STP before discharging, or reused for

secondary purposes. Few metro cities such as Navi Mumbai and Delhi have connected
waste water to STP. However, if rainwater and wastewater are not separated, then
STPs will not be able to handle huge increase in amount of water, including storm water
and sewage. Hence, sewage treatment has to be stopped in STPs during monsoon
months.

As per CSE, 1.2 billion people in India generate 1.75 million tonnes of excreta per day.
Only 22 per cent of sewage is treated in India, while 78 per cent is disposed of in open
fields, rivers and lakes. As per 2009 data, 38,255 million litres of sewage is generated
per day, whereas the municipal bodies had capacity to treat only 11,788 MLD, of which
actually treated sewage was only 8,251 MLD.

“Flush and Forget” will make India regret

Using water to handle human excreta is fraught with economic and ecological
challenges. We need to close the sanitation loop by choosing technologies for sewage
treatment that are suitable for tropical country like India. Water, a precious resource,
must be reused again and again before it is discharged. As India gets more water-
stressed, we cannot afford to ignore the problem of sewage water when India is facing
severe water shortages.

Mumbai Municipality’s tunnel Vision

It’s problem of plenty in water-starved Maharashtra. The Mumbai High Court ordered
IPL cricket matches out of Maharashtra to save few gallons of water being used. When
rural Maharashtra is reeling under severe water crisis, it is shocking to know that
Mumbai disposes of 2000 million litres of untreated sewage per day, in nearby sea. The
Mumbai municipality built 2-3-km-long tunnels under World Bank-aided marine outfall
project costing over Rs 2000 crore.

At the same time, Mumbai municipality is making fresh plans to submerge far-flung
forest areas for building another dam and bringing it from 200 km away to quench thirst
of Mumbai’s growing population. Imagine how many farmlands nearby would have been
nourished with 2000 million litres of water per day, if this water could have been reused
and money spent for a more ecologically and economically sound plan.

Using water to handle human excreta in water closet toilets of cities seems a convenient
but a very expensive solution if costs of sewage treatment are added to it. This is not a
nature-friendly solution in tropical developing countries which have lesser availability of
water per capita.

Design of toilet: the key to manage sewage problem

Several studies have pointed out that conventional public toilets in India are badly
maintained, have poor design and ventilation. They also lack water connection as water
is not readily available due to its scarcity. No wonder that many public toilets are
abandoned. “It is easier to maintain a nuclear reactor in India than a public toilet,” says
India’s leading scientist, Jayant Naralikar. Using water to push human excreta was
perceived as a convenient way in urban context by architects and civil engineers.

At user level, it may have solved many problems by pushing the excreta away in
automated way, thereby eliminating manual scavenging. The history of communicable
diseases like typhoid, cholera and polio and evolution of antibiotics has roots in unsafe
practices of disposing sewage water. Thus, untreated sewage poses greater macro-
level problems of polluting water bodies, if proper sewage treatment before disposal is
not done.

Going to root of the problem: turn sewage into a resource

The conventional western technologies of STPs, which involve sedimentation, aeration

of water, settlement pond and infrared treatment, are not only capital-intensive but also
energy-intensive. The conventional design of STPs needs huge tracts of land within city
limits but also need electrical energy to aerate waste water. According to the Planning
Commission's report on water sector, the cost of a STP per MLD is between Rs 30 lakh
and Rs 1 crore, when land cost and construction costs are not taken into account.

The operating cost of treating water is about Rs 20-30 per kilo litre. It is possible that
running costs for STPs are usually more than cost of sourcing water for most local
bodies. Hence, most local bodies do not have budget to run STPs, even if the capital
cost of a plant is not counted). Under Ganga Action Plan I and II, Rs 4000 crore was
allocated to build STPs on River Ganga. However, the fund was never been used. This
means, India needs to evolve economical solutions that are also nature-friendly. In fact,
only nature-friendly solutions can be economical.

Making design changes in toilets that conserve water and do not create sewage

ECO-SAN (or ecological sanitation) is about keeping human excreta dry. This
approach can solve all ecological issues. One litre of water for flushing a toilet turns
thousands of litres of good water into bad water, according to K. Munshi, former head of
Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay. He spearheads design for dry toilet. Waterless
(eco-san) toilets save precious water from being wasted to flush excreta. They also save
costs associated with sewage treatment.

1. Dry toilet design from IIT Bombay: IIT Bombay’s design cell has designed SS
toilet pan that separates urine, human excreta and water at source. As these are
separate, their treatment is easier. The urine needs no treatment as it is not a
health hazard. Urine evaporates as it is absorbed in ground, enriching soil with
urea. The feaces are collected dry. Hence, they need very little further treatment.
The water used for washing is collected in digester for some treatment. The SS
Pan costs Rs 22,500, in addition to costs for digester and other supports required
for installation.
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2. Pressure vessels that use air vacuum to push out feaces: Air pressure vessel
converts inlet water pressure into air pressure. This air pressure evacuates the
commode, similar to what is done on aircraft. As the excreta are dry, it needs little
or no treatment before safe disposal on land. Cost of such pressure vessels is Rs
60,000 as these are imported. It is possible to indigenise the technology for use in
hotels and multi-storey apartments.

3. Make septic tanks as per BIS standards: Strictly enforce BIS standards for
septic tanks where primary treatment for sewage happens, thus obviating the need
for STP.

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The image above shows sea surface temperature anomalies as recorded in late March
of 2016 by Earth Nullschool. The algae bloom — called a red tide — killed massive
amounts of clams, fish and even marine mammals. Beaches across Chile were littered
with dead sea creatures and Chilean officials are now saying that the current red tide is
the worst ever to occur off Chile.

Ecological and economical solution to problem of sewage

The history of using water closet in sanitation is not more than 300 years old. The water
closet and technologies for STPs have originated in Western countries, with abundant
availability of per capita water. Much before water closet was invented by western
civilisation, it was well known in India and China that human excreta makes excellent
natural fertiliser Dried human excreta enriches farmland by returning nitrogen.
Abundant radiation of sun sterilises the pathogens, as long as direct contact with
potable water is avoided. If excreta can be handled using land-based technologies, then
human health, environmental and ecological problems can be solved in an economical
way. Land can be used as biological filter for growing non-food crops. Handling and
disposal of massive amount of water in centralised sewage treatment plant is most
challenging. Using land mass to filter sewage is ecologically and economically better
than using STPs.

Reengineering sewage treatment using ancient Eastern wisdom

Sewage is actually a resource if treated on land and reused for agricultural purpose.
Sewage was safely used for growing grass pastures in most Indian cities. Such farms
had abundant grass even during summer months, as per Chitra K. Vishwanath of Biome
Environmental Solutions.

The Indus Valley Civilisation in India showed evidence of sanitation system. Every
house in Lothal, the Indus city, had their own private toilet connected to a covered sewer
network constructed of brickwork and gypsum-based mortar. The sewer emptied either
into the surrounding water bodies or alternatively into cesspits, which filtered water so
that the pit could be regularly emptied and cleaned. The urban areas of the Indus Valley
civilisation provided public and private baths, where sewage was disposed through
underground drains built with precisely laid bricks and a sophisticated water
management system with numerous reservoirs for rain water harvesting was
established. Today’s architects and town planners need to reinvent the ancient wisdom,
evolving nature-friendly land based sewage treatment solutions that are economical
because they are not against the ancient systems under five Pancha Mahabhutas (Five
Great Elements): fire, water, earth, air and space.
Traditional Indian wisdom using nature’s forces

As per ancient Indian texts, our world is divided into five mega system of elements
called as “Panchamahabhutas” . The five mega systems are Land (Prithwi), Water
(Aap), Air (Vayu) – Fire/Sun (Tej) and Space (Aakash) that govern mega systems of
living organisms in their confines. Using nature’s omnipresent forces, one can live in
harmony with nature. The hierarchy of living beings on our planet, land, water and air
has evolved naturally over millions of years in a harmonious way. Within each mega
system, nothing is wasted; everything is transformed into a resource by participation of a
species that seems to have evolved only for this purpose. Thus, each species in mega
system has a role to thrive on exhalation, excretion or body remains and waste from
another organism. One organism’s waste becomes food to another. Such a symbiotic
living is the essence of life on our planet.

To some extent, emissions, excretions, or outflows from land to other mega systems like
water and air were also turned into resource. However, if limited amount of excretions
from land animals were pushed into another mega system, for example water bodies, it
will provide extra nourishment to aquatic plants, algae and phytoplankton. After a certain
level of biochemical oxygen demand exceeds, it will lead to pollution and killing of other
aquatic animals.

Delicate balance between five mega systems on earth

There was not much air or water pollution before the industrial revolution. Human beings
had not interfered with the natural world in such a major way. With industrial revolution,
human beings started “misplacing or displacing” massive amount of resources from one
mega system into another, as carbon-devouring economic model became popular. The
natural harmony between land, water and air elements has been upset. For example,
hydrocarbons like coal, oil, are excavated from land. Carbon and nitrous compounds are
released into air as the fossil fuels are burnt for conversion into energy by internal
combustion. Carbon dioxide released into air is not bad to an extent; the plants can
convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into food (or wood) by the process of photo
synthesis in presence of two major elements – sun and water. However, now more than
140 billion tonnes of GHGs are being released each year into air by human activity. The
level of carbon in atmospheric air has now increased to 399 PPM, 40 per cent increase
since the industrial revolution, causing widespread climate change referred to as global
warming. Similarly, by pushing sewage into water bodies, we have disturbed nitrogen
cycle

Upsetting of Nitrogen cycle on land by pushing sewage into water bodies

In natural world, everything is a resource. Sewage, too, is a resource that would
normally nourish land. As is well known, microbe action converts excreta of all animals
on land, thereby returning precious nitrogen to soil. Plants, in turn, take up nitrogen in
soil, and carbon in air, in presence of sunlight, to convert into food that nourishes human
being and the herbivorous animals to complete the Nitrogen cycle. However, human
beings have intervened in the nitrogen cycle of land, resulting in pollution of water
bodies by extra nitrogen. The rhythm of such Nitrogen cycle has been disturbed ever
since human beings started using water to push human excreta away into water
bodies. What would have nourished land in a positive way has started to pollute water
bodies (due to excess nitrogen).

When in contact with water, pathogens multiply in human excreta, causing multitude of
communicable diseases like typhoid, cholera, polio and hepatitis A. As human beings
started using chemical fertilizers to increase crop yield, the run off from unabsorbed
chemical fertilizers added to nitrogen load in water bodies, leading to increasing
eutrophication. Water bodies like lakes, rivers and oceans have extra nutrient that is
leading to the growth of weeds and algae. Extra nitrogen is now causing massive algae
blooms in lakes all over world. We, in India, observe rampant growth of weeds like water
hyacinth in all cities, choking other aquatic species like fish by taking away dissolved
oxygen from water. Extra nitrogen and carbon from sewage is making our oceans
acidic, leading to death of coral reefs. Saturated oceans have reduced capacity to
absorb extra carbon in air, leading to higher carbon dioxide in air, causing catastrophic
climate change due to warming.

Thus, ecological sanitation is of paramount importance for the entire world for following
reasons:

1. Restoring nitrogen cycle in land

2. Arresting global warming
3. Preventing acidification of oceans

India can show the way to the developing world of using nature-friendly technology by
re-engineering ancient wisdom. The entire group of developing countries is urbanising
with similar problems. Their local bodies cannot afford expensive western technologies.
Moreover, STPs do not work where monsoon storm water gets mixed with sewage
water in STPs. The radiation from sun and microbes in land that have evolved over
millions of years offers cheaper alternatives than conventional STPs. It is time India led
the way towards evolving ecological and economical solutions using nature-friendly
technologies.
Four strategies for waste water: Separate, Reduce, Recycle or Reuse

For solving solid waste problems of cities, it is necessary to separate solid waste,
reduce and recycle or reuse components of solid waste for local treatment. For solving
sewage problems, similar strategy needs to be adopted.

Separation at source: The various components of waste water need to be kept

separate at source such as grey water (from bathrooms), storm water (from rainfall),
black water (from latrine) and urine flow (from latrine). Each needs different approach for
treatment.

Reduce: By using waterless ecosan, (like vacuum and gravity instead of water flush),
one can reduce water being used for pushing excreta.

Reuse: The grey water can be used for gardening and growing canna plants like
banana, without much treatment.

Thus, both for solid waste as well as waste water, local treatment (on site) is a much
better option than centralised processing.
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Cartoon by Nala Ponappa

Nature’s healing forces honed during millions of years of evolution

Unlike human world, nature works on principles of negative entropy, creating wealth and
abundance from anything and everything that appears as waste in human perspective.
In nature’s complex and advanced hierarchy, nothing is useless as long it is nature’s
own creation. We can evolve cost-effective and ecological solutions in partnership with
nature. Lobbies with vested interests may try to divert public funds for solutions like
STPs that benefit neither ecology nor economy. Nature’s mechanisms can quickly nurse
back the planet if its healing forces are allowed to play. India can take the lead in
rekindling nature’s mechanism honed over millions of years of evolution to heal our
planet earth.

Pankaj Narayan Pandit is the Founder and Managing Trustee of SLK Foundation. He
can be reached at [Link]@[Link]
How smart is a smart city?
Smart is as smart does. The NDA government’s proposal to build 100 “smart” cities will
work only if it can reinvent the very idea of urban growth in a country like India. Smart
thinking will require the government to not only copy the model cities of the already
developed Western world, but also find a new measure of liveability that will work for
Indian situation, where the cost of growth is unaffordable for most.

The advantage is that there is no agreed definition of smart city. Very loosely it is seen
as a settlement where technology is used to bring about efficiency in resource use and
improvement in the level of services. All this is needed. But before we can bring in smart
technology, we need to know what to do with it. How do we build new cities and repair
groaning urban settlements to provide clean water to all, to manage the growing
mountains of garbage, to treat sewage before we destroy our rivers and to do
something as basic as breathing without inhaling toxins?

It can be done. But only if we have our own dream of a modern Indian city. We cannot
turn Ghaziabad, Rajkot, Sholapur, Tumkur or even Gurgaon into Shanghai or
Singapore. But we can turn these cities into liveable models for others to emulate.

Take water, sewage, mobility or air pollution. The current model of resource
management, developed in rich Western cities, is costly. It cannot be afforded by all.
Even these cities cannot rebuild the paraphernalia for providing services to their people.
This system was built years ago, when the city had funds and grew gradually with
recurring, high investment. Even if we were to build greenfield cities, we cannot wish for
such investment. We need a new approach to humane urban growth.

The first principle in this is to accept that we have to renew what already exists. Take
water, for example. Our cities have been built to optimise on the available resources.
They were smart in building lakes and ponds to harvest every drop of rain. This ensured
that the city recharged its water table and did not face floods every time it rained. We
need to revive that system. It may not be adequate to meet the growing needs of the
city, but will cut costs by reducing the length of the pipeline and bring down distribution
losses. Once we do this, we should add the smartest technology for measuring supply
and for reducing demand. Flush toilets are antiquated. We need smart appliances to
conserve water and smart ways to recycle it.

This then is the next agenda. We know our cities do not have underground sewerage to
speak of. A very un-smart thing to do would be to fall into the trap of civil engineers to
build sewerage network. Delhi, which has the highest network of sewerage lines (some
5,000 km), needs to build another 10,000 km to meet the need of its current population.
Now, knowing that the existing network, built over a century, is already clogged and
broken, the task is impossible.

We know our cities used septic tanks or open drains for sewage management. So
instead of burying these drains, the aim should be to treat sewage in these channels
and to reuse the recycled water. Use the trajectory of the mobile phone; build future
solutions by skipping the landline.

We can do this in the case of energy as well. Today, our cities are pampered by subsidy
because energy cost is high and supply is squeezed. Why can’t we build a new grid for
the city based on solar rooftop generation and super energy-efficient appliances?

This should also be the approach for designing mobility. Our cities have been built to be
car-free. We are now desperately shoving, pushing and parking vehicles down the
narrow lanes. Think smart. Change the idea of mobility itself—build for walking, cycling,
bus and metro.

So we can only build smart cities if we are smart. Really smart.